The new head of the Care Quality Commission defended his disgraced executive
team last month and threatened legal action after this newspaper exposed
their failings, the Daily Telegraph can disclose.

David Behan, the chief executive of CQC said last month that the departures of almost all his executives in a restructuring had nothing to do with the failings regarding Morecambe Bay, or any cover-up linked to it.

He made the comments in a legal letter which threatened to sue for libel over criticism of the team, after the Daily Telegraph described how five of the six executives on the team walked away with redundancy payments of up to £200,000 each ahead of the damning report,

In the letter, sent on May 2, Mr Behan lavished praise on the directors, who he said had “given a tremendous amount to the CQC over the past four years”.

“Their guidance and leadership has been crucial in setting our new strategy,” he said.

He said it was “disappointing” that The Telegraph had linked their departure with the then impending report which was published on Wednesday.

He added: “That link, which I believe was intentional, cannot be responsible journalism.”

This week’s report into the CQC’s failure to prevent a the Morecambe Bay maternity describes the involvement of several of the directors in orchestrating a cover-up.

Among the executives named yesterday were Jill Finney, the organisation’s deputy chief executive, who ordered the destruction of evidence of its failure to prevent the maternity deaths scandal, the report said.

A spokesman for the CQC said: "That letter was sent before we had received the Grant Thornton report which shows that whatever contribution these individuals have made in the past, unacceptable behaviour has now come to light which we cannot condone. "